profile results from a survey of the nonreligious

This survey "explores the social and personal distinctions within the nonreligious population, including religious upbringings, social demographics, emotional stability, and preferred self-labels. The study, which compiled the questionnaire results of 5,831 mostly U.S. respondents, also tested certain stereotypes often pushed onto secular people (e.g. that the nonreligious are “angry loners” or “asocial”), and sought to discern the basis for variations, such as how “spiritual” individuals differ from “religious,” or how “humanists” differ from “atheists.” Big-picture questions were addressed, such as why women tend to be overrepresented among the spiritual and religious, and why men likewise dominate the atheist and agnostic subset. The study also shows how the label “atheist”—long taboo—is now supplanting others as the self-label of choice."